Even before Josh Brolin landed the role of Thanos for 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the Mad Titan made his MCU debut in the mid-credits scene of 2012’s The Avengers, played by Damion Poitier.
In the years since, the character has undergone some major design changes, but if you’d like a better idea of the Infinity Saga’s main villain could’ve looked, then you may want to check out this newly shared concept art from the Instagram of Ironhead Studio.
As you can see, the purple tyrant is looking a little less beefy than he would go on to be in later Avengers movies. His helmet also seems a fair bit different from what we eventually got, and his eyes certainly didn’t look that way for his first lead villain appearance in Avengers: Infinity War.
In an interview last year with IGN, Joss Whedon confessed that he didn’t really know what to do with Thanos beyond his brief appearance in the mid-credits of The Avengers. Though the director said that he loved the character’s apocalyptic vision and described him as “the ultimate Marvel villain,” he also admitted that he “kind of hung [Thanos] out to dry” before Anthony and Joe Russo took over the Avengers series.
Jump to the present day, and even the Russo Brothers are done with the Mad Titan, at least for the time being, but given Marvel’s long history of bringing back supposedly dead characters, surely we can never rule out a comeback for Thanos.
In the meantime, now that the Infinity Saga has come to a close, the MCU is about to enter a whole new era, starting with the release of Black Widow on May 1st.
